1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector that is connected to a pin-shaped conducting member of a counterpart connector, and more particularly to a connector that absorbs alignment error, which, when the positional relationship between the connector and the conducting member of its counterpart deviates from the regular one (hereinafter this condition is referred to as existence of an alignment error), can absorb the alignment error and can be connected to the counterpart.
2. Related Art
Printed circuit board connectors, such as one disclosed in Japanese utility model examined publication gazette Heisei 3-9255, have been used extensively. In such a connector, contacts are stored in a housing, one end of each contact is used as a mounting part, put through a through hole in a printed circuit board, casing, etc. and soldered, and a pin-shaped conducting member of a counterpart connector is inserted into a cylindrical connecting part on the other end of the contact to mechanically and electrically connect the conducting member of the counterpart to the printed circuit board.
When such a connector is used, for example, to connect two printed circuit boards (so-called board-to-board connection), the connector and the conducting members of the counterpart that are to be connected together are mounted on the respective printed circuit boards. When the positional relationship between the two printed circuit boards is established according to the desired arrangement in relation to the casing or the like, the positional relationship between the connector and the conducting members of the counterpart may deviate from the regular one, generating an alignment error. If this alignment error is excessive, the conducting members of the counterpart can not be connected to the connector. Even if the conducting members of the counterpart can be connected forcefully to the connector, connection in a strained posture may cause troubles such as cracking in a soldered part, etc. due to excessive stresses, resulting in defective connection. Such alignment errors tend to occur, for example, when a large number of connectors and conducting members of the counterpart are mounted on printed circuit boards and they are made to connect with each other at a time in a board-to-board connection, making it difficult to assemble the printed circuit boards.
One objective of the present invention is to effectively absorb the alignment error, prevent connection failure and defective connection from occurring, improve the reliability and enhance the workability of assembly of printed circuit boards by dividing the housing into two parts and coupling the two parts with at least one contact in such a way that both parts are floating to each other so that the housing of the connection side can slide in a plane that crosses the longitudinal direction of the conducting member of the counterpart.
To achieve the above-mentioned objective, the connector that absorbs alignment error according to the present invention is a connector to be connected to a pin-shaped conducting member of a counterpart, said connector comprising, a base housing to be arranged on a printed circuit board, a slide housing being supported in such a way that it can slide in relation to the base housing in a plane that crosses the longitudinal direction of the conducting member of the counterpart, and at least one contact spanning both said housings, being fixed to both said housings and being to be soldered on the printed circuit board, said slide housing having at least one inlet hole of which one end faces to and opens to said contact and of which the other end widens toward the end and open to the conducting member of the counterpart.
This connector that absorbs alignment error is mounted by soldering the contact on the base housing side onto the printed circuit board. When the conducting member of the counterpart is inserted into the inlet hole, the conducting member will come close to the contact. When both the conducting member and the contact are soldered or crimped together, the connection will be completed. In this process, even if the center of conducting member of the counterpart and the center of the inlet hole are not aligned with each other due to an alignment error, the conducting member of the counterpart will be received by the wide openings of the inlet hole, and when the conducting member advance in the inlet hole, the slide housing will be slid in relation to the base housing by the elastic deformation of the contact in a plane that crosses the longitudinal direction of the conducting member of the counterpart to absorb the alignment error. Thus the connector and the conducting member of the counterpart can be reliably connected with each other despite the existence of an alignment error. Furthermore, the stresses on the soldered parts, etc. are lessened in proportion to the flection of the contact. Hence troubles such as cracking due to excessive stresses caused in soldered parts by forceful connection can be avoided to prevent occurrence of defective connection. This can enhance the reliability of the connector. Moreover, as the conducting member of the counterpart is accepted by the inlet hole and received smoothly, the workability of assembly of printed circuit boards is improved. The above-mentioned desirable effects are particularly conspicuous when a large number of connectors and conducting members of counterpart are mounted and they are connected at a time to make a board-to-board connection.